Opinion: FLDS News Roundup

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First, here's the latest on the eye of the hurricane, Ms. Rozita Swinton:

'Not Guilty Plea Entered in False Reporting Case' (9/15/2008)

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - A lawyer for a Colorado Springs woman accused of false reporting entered a not guilty plea Monday, arguing his client has a multiple personality disorder.

Rozita Swinton, 33, is charged with misdemeanor false reporting. Colorado Springs police allege she called an emergency line, posing as a teenage girl trapped in a basement. Police searched for the girl for hours, according to an arrest affidavit.

Texas Rangers have named Swinton a so-called "person of interest" in a telephone tip that preceded an April raid on a polygamist compound in Texas.

Attorney David Foley entered a "not guilty, mental condition impaired" plea for Swinton Monday, The Gazette of Colorado Springs reported.

"My client and I are unable to determine if she was even involved because of her dissociative state," Foley told El Paso County Judge Dan Wilson. "It's a unique situation."

Swinton will be evaluated by psychologists to determine if she was suffering from the disorder at the time of the alleged phone call.

Swinton faces charges she violated a Douglas County probation condition imposed after she pleaded guilty in 2007 to telling police she was a 16-year-old girl who was suicidal after giving birth.

Brass tacks: the charge against Swinton is a misdemeanor, and her trial has been postponed until next January in order to complete a full mental evaluation.

It should be noted that this charge against Swinton is local, and separate from the FLDS case.

One of many to come from the Deseret News, which has been keeping close tabs on the story:

FLDS Seeking CPS Evidence

SAN ANGELO, Texas — More lawyers for children taken in the raid on the Fundamentalist LDS Church's YFZ Ranch are taking Texas Child Protective Services back to court to force the agency to hand over evidence of abuse.

Hearings are scheduled here next week seeking discovery in cases involving at least 30 children.

During a hearing earlier this month, CPS attorneys asked for a "mulligan" when it came to discovery. They said they did not intentionally deny the evidence to lawyers for FLDS parents and children but were caught up in an overwhelmingly large caseload.

As the custody case drags on, CPS has "nonsuited" 300 children, including some who are scheduled to have hearings next week.

"Most of our cases have been nonsuited," said Cynthia Martinez with the Texas RioGrande Legal Aid Society, which took CPS to court and obtained some of the first discovery.

Of the group's 48 clients, only seven still remain under court jurisdiction.

"Nonsuiting means that CPS agrees these families are providing good households for these children," Martinez said.

Another FLDS Child 'Non-Suited'

SAN ANGELO, Texas — One by one, children taken into state protective custody during the raid on the Fundamentalist LDS Church's YFZ Ranch are being dropped from court oversight in the nation's largest child custody case.

On Friday, Texas Child Protective Services filed to have another child from the Utah-based polygamous sect officially nonsuited, ending court jurisdiction over their case. Friday's filing brings the number of cases nonsuited to 287.

Approximately 439 children were taken into state custody during the raid in early April, when CPS caseworkers and law enforcement responded to the YFZ Ranch on a phone call alleging abuse. The children were returned to their families two months later, when two Texas courts ruled the state acted improperly and the children were not in any imminent danger.

Only one girl, a 14-year-old believed to have been married to FLDS leader Warren Jeffs at age 12, has been ordered back into foster care after a judge ruled her mother was unable to protect her from abuse.

In other FLDS news, San Angelo District Judge Barbara Walther extended a restraining order designed to keep FLDS spokesman Willie Jessop from communicating with the now 17-year-old daughter of sect leader Warren Jeffs.

A lot of indictments being handed out to FLDS men.

Last Tuesday, FLDS lawyers backed out of a court fight over evidence for the YFZ ranch search warrants.

The FLDS grand jury is in session, and more charges against the FLDS based on new search warrants are expected.

Tantalizing tidbits on whether those new search warrants can go forward after October 1st. Or not.

Recent search warrants reveal new names that are under investigation for participating in underage marriages. Last week, a child protective caseworker testified that 48 percent of the men at the ranch were involved in underage marriage practices.

The new warrants also name an ex-member of the sect who provided law enforcement with information in the years leading up to the raid.

The FLDS church has filed legal paperwork to have the search warrants and any new information tossed out. A judge is expected to rule on that, October 1st.

You'll notice that the CPS case worker testified that 48% of the men at YFZ were involved in underage marriage practices, yet nearly three-quarters of the 439 children have been non-suited by the same CPS. You can do the math for yourself. Make up your own mind on who to believe. Texas CPS case workers with big sprawling charges? I'm a little iffy on that one.

Finally, 19-year-old Parley Jeffs Dutson, one of the FLDS Lost Boys, was convicted in the rape and murder of his 15-year-old girlfriend.

You have to wonder if he was ever really found.

So what do we know, really?

We know that over 300 children of the 439 in state custody after the raid have since been 'non-suited' by Texas courts and CPS.

We know that the FLDS grand jury is in session, and that more charges are likely to be leveled at FLDS men.

We're beginning to know that this tangled web of lawyers, judges, sheriffs and CPS case workers will no doubt snarl and drag on for years to come.

In other words, barring any shocking developments one way or the other (like mega-lawsuits filed against the State of Texas by FLDS, for example), the FLDS story is in Snooze Mode for all but the FLDS et al.

Finally, we know that the disturbed woman who most likely set the whole case in motion with a prank call will be tried only for a misdemeanor, and not even that if her lawyers can convince the court Rozita Swinton's out of her mind. Not really much of a tough call, even without an evaluation.

On the bright side, the poor girl might even qualify for SSI disability when all is said and done.

What a country, huh?

Again, Shakespeare comes to mind.

Then again, the Texas Rangers have yet to file charges in the case.

If all else fails, somebody call in Walker. He'll get her.

If only it were all so easy.